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Eric Ratcliffe

Eric Ratcliffe was born in 1918 at Teddington, Middlesex, saw military service in World War 2 as an ammunition examiner in the ‘Blitz’ in London before a posting to India. His scientific career includes many research papers on thermal conductivity. He founded and edited Ore Magazine, with Brian Louis Pearce as advisory associate.

His credo is opposed to mainstream material poetry and rooted in belief of an after-life. Myth, legend and ancient British history play a large part in his themes.

His poems Anthropos and Fire in the Bush : poems 1955-1992, both published by University of Salzburg Press. Reviewer have said of Fire in the Bush:

‘His poetry is a mystical celebration of life, remote and unearthly’- RICHMOND AND TWICKENHAM TIMES

…’vision in which Elemental presences are more real than so-called reality…it is in the company of Kathleen Raine and Charles Williams that Ratcliffe is to be considered’ – TEARS IN THE FENCE

‘Like the phantom arm that recovered Excalibur from the marsh, Ratcliffe plunges deep into the azure mire of prehistoric and pre-conscious history and surfaces clutching a handful of alchemical gems – chantoyant, crystalline and imperishable’- – ABRAXAS